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Outback Vision

Although it is impossible to know what God can and will do in the Sertão, it is good to have a vision and goals. After reading the book Church Planting Movements by David Garrison, I would love for that to happen here, although some may say the conditions are not right for it. A church planting movement, however, will be the goal here.

In January of 2014 we plan to move to Arcoverde, a major city right outside the Outback. It is called the gateway to the Outback. There we will be assisting missionaries Roger and Marcy Smith, from Koinonia Baptist Church in Recife as they open a resource center for area churches as well as start a church plant in a neighborhood and class that does not have a church. We plan to be there from 6 months to 2 years, depending on how everything goes.Once we move from there, we will go to a central location in the Sertão (Afogados da Ingazeira). We will start our time there meeting people as well as helping out other church plants. At the same time as helping these plants out, we will try to meet people in our town through soccer, daily activities, neighbors, etc... We will look to do the Story of Hope Bible study with them. We can do soccer tournaments, movie nights, parties, play dates, parents night out, Judgment Day, and possibly school visits or ESL, etc... We will also be helping out in a Bible Institute an hour away.

After there are some believers we will start doing Bible studies together that are somewhat similar to church services. We would hope to have 2-3 different study groups of 10-20 people before we actually have official church services (although technically the little studies are “the church”).

Short term goals

Recruit 1 couple while we are on furlough.

Arrive and get settled in the Sertão. Decide on housing plan.

Have 5 Story of Hope Bible studies set up within the first year.

Have 2 small group Bible studies within 2 years.

Have a church service going within 3 years.

Have a place for Pastors in Recife to go and relax.

Long term goals

Start Koinonia of Arcoverde.

Start out of town Bible studies in the surrounding towns.

Have out of town Bible studies that can turn into churches.

Have an unofficial seminary, whether it be through Sunday school or night classes or modular classes.

Use seminary students to start other Bible studies, in town or out of town.

Send out missionaries from the Sertão to other parts of Brasil and the world.

Have churches in all 17 towns of the Sertão.

Start churches in other towns in the Northeast region.

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Church Planting in the Brazilian Outback

David and Sarah have been married since 2006. We are missionaries to Brazil on furlough. We ministered in the Amazon for our first term from 2008-2012 and will now be planting churches in Northeast Brasil.
Sarah and I have two beautiful little girls, Evelyn (2009) and Anna Claire (2013).
We have a youtube channel with lots of videos on it, just type in our names and you should find us.
We currently are open to any speaking opportunities we can schedule, whether in churches, schools, Bible studies, or wherever else. If you have an opportunity, we would love to know about it.